15mm Lord of the Rings Figures

[Rod]

Love it Paul!

[Brummbär]

Me too

[Bill Hupp]

It's coming along very nicely Paul.

[Texus Maximus]

This work-in-progress represents the Misty Mountains, from the north part of the board to Saruman's Tower. They are designed in two parts; the northern part has a mountain pass large enough for Hero stands to use and ends at the Mines of Moria. The southern part is smaller and lower since it is the end of the mountain range.





In game terms, the Mines of Moria and Saruman's Tower are Heavily Fortified Camps.



There will be a campaign card "Speak Friend and Enter" which will allow Heroes of the Forces of Good to pass through Moria. The Balrog (originally conceived to be a Behemoth in the rules) has been changed to an off-board Hero with a campaign card "The Balrog Awakes" allowing deployment, allowing the Forces of Evil to deploy him in Moria and engage in Hero vs. Hero combat with anyone passing through.

I have 24 points worth of goblins, wolves, and trolls which can deploy on either side of the mountain from Moria and still have enemies to fight nearby. This is essentially a six-player Grand Triumph! game with the 51-point armies of Mordor/Gondor and Isengard/Rohan starting about 24" apart form one another. So those two players can play more of a conventional game on the southern half of the board. The other two players with all the minor forces will have interesting choices about WHERE to fight, each with about 100 points of troops each but spread all over the north half of the board and with many dependent on campaign cards (or enemy action) to be activated.





There is a pass through the mountains near Rivendell but it starts the game closed by snow. A campaign card, if the forces of Good are lucky enough to draw it early, will allow Heroes to pass through.

Moria is a model measuring 4 inches square. It was originally a homemade dungeon tile we used for 15mm skirmish games. It was made with project bricks, which are Styrofoam rectangles you can get at Hobby Lobby. I added a second level path to make it a little more maze-like, a few details (dwarf skeleton, goblin archer, rusty weapons) and a back door. It was painted with grey poster paint because it is relatively inexpensive and easy to get, then dry-brushed light grey..



The mountains were made with 2" and 3" insulation foam from Home Depot. It took about three hours from start to finish, although it went much faster towards the end as I got used to it. The pieces were cut to a rough shape with a jigsaw then carved up with a serrated knife. The edges were pounded with a jagged rock to give them more texture. A better solution would be to use one of those hot wire tools for the cutting part. Spackle was used to close the gaps between levels. After drying overnight, these will be painted with grey poster paint and drybrushed with light grey.

I wanted these mountains to be taller than the trees but not so tall as to dominate the board. They are about 6 to 7" tall, so to enhance the illusion the lower edge in contact with the table and the ledges between the first and second level will be covered with lichen. The jagged peaks will be snow-capped white with thin wisps of white cotton clouds here and there. Finally, there are three ledges on the upper levels where the Eagle stands (Knights or Javelin Cavalry with the Flying special ability) will start the game.



Tools used.

[Gregorius]

Very inspiring Paul. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing the finished terrain.

Cheers,

[Texus Maximus]

The other two mountain ranges in progress. First are the mountains that run east-west from the edge of the game board to Minas Tirith.

Helms Deep is a cheap sand-castle type model from Hobby Lobby. I cut one tower off so that it would fit snug against the mountain. By happy accident, the top level of the castle was 2" tall like the foam for the mountains so it fit perfectly. Not the greatest model but will look fine from a distance I think.

The entrance to the Paths of the Dead is some 25mm scale dungeon door I have had for years.

Minas Tirith is a wooden castle from Hobby Lobby with two towers from an old broken Airfix Robin Hood castle on the corners and a cut-down aquarium "princess tower" stuck in the middle. Like Helms Deep, it is not the best model but should look the part from a distance. I have to keep reminding myself this is game terrain and not fine scale modeling.











I started on the land of Mordor at about 1100 today and made good progress in three hours. The fourth tower from the sandcastle is now Cirith Ungol, overlooking a pass just wide enough to fit three troop stands across. Shelob's cave is on the other side.

The Black Gate is another 25mm dungeon door that has been laying around forever and the rest will be made of project bricks.

I bought a wooden lighthouse/birdhouse (from Michael's I think) for a few dollars and cut it apart. The top half is now Barad-Dur. The hole for birds is now a window and there is enough space inside for a flickering LED candle. The bottom half will make a decent volcano I think; I am going to try wrapping is in wrinkled aluminum foil for texture then covering that with thin paper mache. The space on top is big enough for a smoke marker, in this case an LED candle wreathed in cotton and dry-brushed black.

[Gregorius]

Very impressive work again Paul.

Cheers,

[Brummbär]

Stunning work!!!

[Texus Maximus]

Another five hours of effort today and these are nearly done. I just need to add some finishing touches (finish basing for Minas Tirith, add flag to Helms Deep, etc.)

Minas Tirith is shown here right up against the board edge but that will all be shifted north about six inches to allow troops and heroes to access to the area behind the mountains. That will put Helms Deep on the middle table.

I put some lichen, clouds, and the three eagle stands on the Misty Mountains in the last photo to see how they will look together. I think the snow-capped peaks and the clouds help make them look taller.

[Gregorius]

Spectacular work Paul!

Cheers,